


Some of Dad's Friends

by kurtoons



Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: Gen, Magic, Quintessence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-28
Updated: 2017-05-28
Packaged: 2018-11-06 00:35:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11024877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kurtoons/pseuds/kurtoons
Summary: The son of the Phantom Stranger is facing doubts about his career path when he is visited by four of his father's cosmic colleagues."We are the QUINTESSENCE," the Prophet said, as if that explained everything.





	Some of Dad's Friends

**Author's Note:**

> This is an old story of mine I came across while digging through my files. It was kind of a sidebar to an online RPG I ran for a bit about a future incarnation of the Justice League formed out of next-generation heroes. To show how old the game was, in it Maxwell Lord was not yet a villain; (although he wasn't exactly a hero; Max was always ambiguous). In one of the games, I introduced a character named Adam Clay, who was the son of the Phantom Stranger and Madame Xanadu. (I first met those two characters in a BLUE DEVIL ANNUAL and their prickly chemistry suggested to me that they had a history together).
> 
> Adam was an angry, resentful teen who got suckered by the demon Neron into unleashing chaos on the world. Later on, I passed the game's reins over to another player and took on Adam as my own PC, having him join the JLA to atone for the mess he made the first time.
> 
> About this same time, another friend and I were trying to collaborate on a pitch to send to DC involving The Quintessence, a group of more-or-less cosmic beings who appeared in the series KINGDOM COME. We never quite got the pitch to gel, but I used some of the ideas we developed in this sidebar story to the Justice League Next-Gen campaign.
> 
> The story begins after one of Adam's first adventures with the League, and he is feeling doubts about his decision to join.

The mists parted and Adam entered his inner sanctum. It  
wasn't much as inner sancta went, a small efficiency apartment in  
Greenwich Village, but it was his. He tossed his jacket over a chair  
and crashed on the bed. The villains were gone now, the media and  
the Secret Service men, even the other heroes. He just wanted to be  
alone.

Other heroes. That was a joke. Here he thought that joining  
the JLA would make up for how he'd bungled things in the Chaos Gate  
fiasco; he thought that it would be easy. Now Sam-El was dead; a  
kid, no older than he was. And he had killed too. He killed Captain  
Nazi in the fury of the moment with a blast of magic, but his murder  
of Eiling was cold and calculated. He couldn't think of anything  
else he could have done under the circumstances, but the act still ate  
at him.

What am I becoming? Adam asked himself. He used to ask  
"what am I?" He was a freak; an outsider; the son of no man; the  
weird little kid with the intense eyes that gave everybody else the  
creeps. Then Neron came to him and things all began to make sense.  
He was the offspring of a powerful entity with the ability to wield  
sorcery. Neron promised to teach him how to use those powers and  
claim his birthright.

That birthright was the Chaos Gate, a sort of pressure valve  
on the World of Magic which the Powers-That-Be had sealed off from  
the Mortal World. Adam could use this magic to do whatever he  
wanted. At Neron's urging, he did.

Well, that had all gone badly. His inexperienced attempts to  
use the Chaos Gate had flooded the world with magic, as Neron had  
intended. By the time he realized what was happening, it was almost  
too late. He managed to stop Neron's plan... just barely... with the  
help of the Justice League. But it cost him his father.

Adam took the amulet that had been his father's in his hand  
and stared at it. With his father gone, now he was the custodian of  
the Chaos Gate. He was beginning to understand why his father seemed  
content to merely observe the affairs of the world and rarely  
intervened directly. Every time Adam had tried to use the magic of  
the Chaos gate everything had gone wrong. Adam clutched the amulet   
in his hand and was about to throw it violently away.

Suddenly the room dissolved around him. Adam sprang to his  
feet.. That there was no floor under him did not seem to matter.  
That was his first clue that he had entered the Astral Plane. That,  
and the four towering figures that loomed over him.

They all had long white hair and stern visages. One had a  
full, white beard and held a staff like a Hebrew prophet. One wore a  
toga. His beard curled in ringlets that seem to roll like  
thunderclouds and lightning crackled in his eyes, whether in anger  
or amusement Adam couldn't tell. The third seemed shorter than the  
others -- a mere fifty feet tall; he wore no beard and his skin had  
a bluish tint. The last figure was bald and his beard longer than  
the others, like Father Time, yet for some reason he seemed younger  
than the others.

I'm supposed to be intimidated, Adam realized. This fact  
fixed in him a determination not to be intimidated. He recalled  
that on the Astral Plane will determined reality, so he willed  
himself to grow. He enlarged himself until he was about the same  
scale as the other figures, but found that if he tried to go larger,  
the others enlarged also. He caught a ghost of a smile on the  
balding figure's face. So, I'm allowed to be their equal, but not  
their superior. That was worth knowing. This was obviously a test  
of some sort.

"You know who we are, Mortal Clay?" the Greek Dude thundered.

Mortal Clay. Adam was the first man, formed out of the clay  
of the earth. Mortal clay meant man's physical form, imperfect and  
prone to death. Playing on my name to remind me that I'm human and  
he's not. Cute. Adam decided to play a hunch.

"Don't tell me. You're my Dad's old poker buddies."

Father Time smothered a grin. The Munchkin frowned and  
said, "You are very perceptive. We are associates of your father's."

"We are the QUINTESSENCE," the Prophet said, as if that  
explained everything.

"We watch over the affairs of the world and sometimes  
intervene to guide it," Father Time elaborated.

"You're the ones who sealed the magic from the mortal world,"  
Adam said. "You created the Chaos Gate."

"We were involved in its creation," the Prophet corrected,  
"And entrusted with its care. More specifically, your father was. "

"And that is the crux of the matter," the Munchkin added.  
"It is our responsibility to see that the Chaos Gate is in  
responsible hands." He regarded Adam critically.

Adam frowned. Ten minutes ago he would have been glad to  
ditch the whole guardianship thing, but the idea of being having it  
taken away by these cosmic buttinskis rankled him. "And those hands  
would be yours?"

The Greek Dude advanced. "The Guardian of the Chaos Gate  
must understand power. I am Zeus, King of the Gods, and master of  
thunderbolts. I am Power Incarnate!" His beard billowed and  
darkened like a thundercloud and his toga stirred with a sudden gust  
of wind. Lightning crackled from the deity's fist.

Adam took a step back. It was hard not to be intimidated by  
a show like that; but something deep inside told him the god was  
wrong. Maybe it was his father's wisdom speaking to him, maybe it  
was some instinct from the Magic itself. He squared his shoulders  
and faced Zeus.

"The power you wield is the power of Nature," Adam said.  
"Magic, by it's very definition, comes from beyond nature. It lies  
outside your authority. You do not have the right to the Chaos Gate."

The blue Munchkin chuckled. "Well reasoned. You have a head  
on your shoulders. You therefore must recognize that the Guardian  
must be a person of intelligence. I am Ganthet, the last of the  
Guardians of the Universe. For eons my kind have used our superior  
intelligence and mental powers to maintain order in the Universe.  
Logically, the custodianship of the gate should be mine."

Adam thought about this. The Guardian's argument seemed  
logical. "But Magic is intuitive," Adam said. "Chaos can be  
constrained by Order, but then it ceases to be Chaos." Something  
struck him -- he couldn't recall where he had learned it, but he knew  
it was true: "The Guardians renounced all Magic long ago."

"Correct," Ganthet conceded. "It tended to disrupt our  
calculations. Eons ago we gathered much of the Universe's magic into  
a single agglomeration called the Starheart."

"Mere intelligence is not enough to command the Chaos Gate,"  
the Prophet with the staff said. "It takes wisdom and  
understanding. I am Izaya, the Highfather of New Genesis and I am  
linked to The Source, the cosmic expression of the Divine; what you  
mortals call God."

Adam swallowed hard. Like the other guys weren't  
intimidating enough. "If you are indeed linked to God, then you have  
no need of Magic; you have the Power of God to use, as God wills. A  
priest's office is to intercede between God and Man, not to wield  
power. Therefore, the Chaos Gate lies outside your authority as  
well."

The Highfather nodded his head. "A wise answer," he said and  
stepped back.

Adam turned to the fourth figure. "And who are you?"

The old man inclined his head. "In life, I was a sage of the  
land of Canaan. I walked among kings and warriors and made the  
acquaintance of gods, and I amassed great powers. I used these powers  
to create heroes. And for millenia I sat at the nexus of Eternity  
watching over the struggle between Good and Evil. I am SHAZAM."

Adam caught his breath. "Why... then the Chaos Gate should  
be yours! You are the greatest wizard of all time!"

The old man shook his head. "Greater than I dwelt in  
Atlantis of old. Their time is past and so has mine. I have  
renounced my mortal state and with it I have renounced all right and  
claim to be guardian of Magic. We four are gods, but the keeper of  
the Chaos Gate needs be a man. I think you shall perform the task  
well."

Adam looked from one to the other of the four figures.  
Highfather beamed; Ganthet smirked; Zeus, scowling, pulled a pouch  
from his belt and slapped it in Ganthet's hand. "You win," he   
growled.

"As I told you; a ninety-six percent mathematical probability that he   
would pass the test," the blue-faced Munchkin said.

"You mean this has all been a test?"

"Yes," Highfather said, "and you met it admirably. You are  
welcome to take your father's place in our council." He extended his  
hand to Adam.

"No thanks," Adam said.

"What?

"I'm not interested in being a god. I'll guard the Gate and  
do my best, because that's what my father would want, not because you  
think I'm worthy to join your cosmic bowling team or whatever it is."

"Hah!" Zeus said. "Did you mathematically project that,  
pipsqueak?"

"As a matter of fact, I did." Ganthet turned to Adam. "If  
you do not wish to join us, you don't have to. But there is a place  
for you. I speak for Logic and Reason. Shazam speaks for the more  
irrational forces of the universe. Izaya speaks for the Divine  
Principle. Zeus speaks for Chorused Nature. There is a fifth place  
open."

"Someone must speak for Man," Highfather said. "That was  
your father's self-imposed mission. We did not always agree with  
him..."

"We rarely agreed with him," Zeus interjected.

"...But we recognize that Mankind must also be represented."

"We may ask for your advice from time to time," Shazam said.  
"If you don't mind."

The images dissolved and Adam found himself once more sitting  
on his own bed. He regarded the amulet in his hand. It seemed even  
heavier now than it did before.

"If I don't take this responsibility, then who will?"

He hung the amulet once more around his neck and flopped down  
on the bed.

"Y'know, Dad, things would be a lot easier if you'd just left  
me a car or something. Then again... if those four guys think I'm up  
to the job, maybe I can pull it off after all."

***


End file.
